Wandering Dream
by mokona206
Summary: Frederic suddenly collapses after the group was training outside Baroque City. He is quickly taken to the castle to rest, but when night came, a voice beckons him into the forest. Is it a dream within a dream? Or something else?
1. Chapter 1

"Heat Blade!" Jazz furiously swung his long sword at the last of their enemy monsters in Celestial Forest. The floating sea dragon-like monster let out a piercing noise before disappearing into nothing. When all became quiet, the group relaxed feeling assured that no more monsters would be coming to attack them. The party celebrated that their training was over for the day.

"Alright!" Viola cheered, "We're finally done with those pesky monsters. "Man, I'm beat."

"Huh? Did you say something Viola?" Beat exclaimed next to her.

"No, Beat," Polka giggled, "she was just saying an expression that she's tired. She wasn't necessarily calling you."

"Oh, I see," Beat nodded in understanding.

"Now you see? Hmph, I knew all along what the old lady meant when she first said it," Salsa interjected. "You're going to have to pick up the pace Beat."

"What did you say?" Beat shot back at her. Salsa waved a finger at him.

"I'm just saying you're a bit slow with words."

"You don't have to act all smart!" Beat frowned.

"And who're you calling 'old lady'?" Viola interrupted hearing their conversation.

"Yikes!" Salsa jumped and immediately ran behind her sister, March. March looked innocently at all of them.

"Now now, you all don't need to fight," she tried to calm them down.

"She's right, Salsa. You could learn a thing or two from your sister," Beat pointed out. But Salsa ignored him and merely stuck her tongue out with another hmph.

"Anyway," Allegretto cut in, "since we're done with all of the monsters here, let's head back to Baroque to rest for the day. I'm sure everyone's pretty tired."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Jazz exclaimed. "We'll need to rest up tonight in order to take on the monsters that come tomorrow morning." He then started to walk in the direction back to Baroque.

"What? More training? You've got to be kidding me," Viola sighed as everyone started to head back.

"It'll be fine. We'll need all the training we can get for now in order to be ready for anything," Falsetto assured her.

"I know I'll be ready to take a nice long nap," Viola shook her head. As the group made their way back to Baroque, one of the members started falling behind. Beat was the first person to notice.

"Huh? Frederic, are you feeling okay?" Beat looked back to their comrade who appeared to be slowing down and breathing heavily.

"I'm fine Beat…I just feel a little tired…" Frederic breathed. Beat still looked curiously at Frederic.

"Are you sure? Your face looks like it's getting pale." Salsa also looked back and noticed Frederic's behavior, but didn't appear as concerned as Beat.

"Huh? Isn't his face always like that?" Salsa asked tilting her head to the side.

"Salsa! You don't need to be rude. People's faces aren't always that pale," Beat told her.

"Well excuse me for asking!" Salsa crossed her arms and looked away. Polka and the others all heard them talking and they all stopped to look at Frederic.

"Frederic? Do you feel ill?" Polka asked with a concerned look on her face.

Frederic tried to shake his head, "No, I…" suddenly he groaned and his whole body fell to the ground. The whole group became shocked and all hurried to their friend's side.

"Frederic? Frederic?" Polka tried to call him.

"What happened?" Jazz asked.

"I don't know, but his face looked rather pale. And suddenly he fell over," Beat explained.

"Did he get hurt in battle?" Viola asked.

Polka shook her head a bit, "I was beside him the whole time, and he seemed perfectly fine…until now."

"We have to get him to a safer place indoors," Jazz exclaimed. Then he had an idea. He turned to Salsa, "Salsa, hurry and run as fast as you can to Prince Crescendo and inform him of what's happened. We'll be coming to Baroque castle."

"Uh right!" Salsa turned and sprinted towards Baroque.

"Allegretto, help me carry him to Baroque. The rest of you follow us behind!" Jazz ordered. The rest nodded and Allegretto hurriedly helped Jazz pick Frederic up from the ground and wrap each of his arms over their shoulders. Together they moved forward with the rest of the group behind them.

Salsa hurriedly ran with her little legs of hers through Baroque city and into the Castle. She ran through the halls and up the stairs and then through the halls again until screeching at a stop in front of Prince Crescendo's door. The guard standing beside it nearly fell back in surprise.

"Is something wrong, miss?" the guard asked.

"It's terrible," Salsa cried, "I need to see the captain right away!"

"The captain? Oh, if you mean Prince Crescendo, I'm afraid he's in the middle of some very important work right now. Perhaps if you'll come by later…"

"There won't be a later!" Salsa interrupted, "Our friend is seriously hurt! He's dying here!" Salsa might be over exaggerating a bit here, but she would have to do anything to get Prince Crescendo. Before the guard could say anything more, the door suddenly opened and a young man appeared beside them.

"Is something the matter? I heard shouting outside my door."

"P-Prince Crescendo!" the guard saluted.

"Captain, we've got a problem!" Salsa exclaimed. Salsa never got over her habit of calling Prince Crescendo the captain ever since their first meeting on Baroque ship before their pirate encounter.

"A problem? What is it?"

"It's Frederic! He suddenly collapsed outside of town and is passed out. He needs help right away!"

"Mr. Chopin? Right, where is he right now?" Prince Crescendo asked giving his full attention.

"Jazz and the others are carrying him over here. Come on, let's hurry and meet up with them." Salsa then started to run up ahead towards the castle entrance. Prince Crescendo was about to follow her, but before he moved he stopped and called to the still surprised guard.

"Call a doctor immediately and send him to my room. Tell him we have an injured man on the way!" he ordered.

"Yes sir!" As the guard started to run in the other direction, the prince turned to follow Salsa, who was bouncing up and down impatiently, waving at him to hurry up. By the time they reached the castle's main entrance hall, Jazz, Allegretto, and the others had already arrived carrying the passed out Frederic with them.

"Mr. Chopin!" Prince Crescendo gasped, "Please, bring him to my room. I have already called a doctor." He quickly guided Jazz and Allegretto to his room. The others followed until they arrived at the room, where they decided to wait outside. Inside Prince Crescendo's room, the doctor was already waiting for them.

"Ah, there you are. Please, lie him down on the chair and I'll quickly examine him." They carefully brought Frederic to the cushioned red couch and carefully lied him down.

"Let's go wait outside with the others," Jazz whispered to Allegretto. "Frederic should be fine with the doctor here." Allegretto nodded and then looked curiously to Prince Crescendo who was standing beside the doctor. Prince Crescendo noticed his gaze and softly smiled at them.

"I'll be here with Mr. Chopin as the doctor examines him. Please make yourselves comfortable in the guest rooms down the hall. I'll call everyone back in when we're done." Jazz and Allegretto nodded as they left the room. Outside, everyone noticed them exiting the room and came up to them with questioning looks.

"How's Frederic? Is he going to be alright?" Polka was the first one to ask.

"He's going to be just fine," Allegretto reassured her, "the doctor and Prince Crescendo are tending to him as we speak. For now all we can do is wait in the guest rooms until they're done." Everyone sighed in relief now that all is going to be well.

"Phew, all this commotion has really worn me out. I'm heading to bed first." Viola waved off as she turned and headed for one of the rooms. Salsa smiled slyly and bounced after her.

"I'll come with you! All that running sure took all the energy out of my little legs." Viola stopped abruptly and turned to face Salsa.

"What? There's no way you're going to be in the same room as me! Go find your own room."

"Oh come on! What's the matter with being in the same room, old lady?" Salsa grinned.

"O-Old lady! You go ahead and try saying that again, I'll beat you with my bow!" Viola threatened waving a fist.

"Oh no! This old lady's gone nuts; she's going to beat me!" Salsa cried playfully and started running away.

"H-Hey, get back here!" Viola called and started running after her. The others all watched them bicker at each other and run out of sight. Polka gave a small giggle again watching those two.

"Well, I think we all should head to our rooms for the night."

"Good idea, Polka. Do you mind if I come with you?" March asked politely. Unlike her sister Salsa, March was always one for manners around others.

"Of course March, I don't mind at all," Polka smiled as the two of them started walking down the hall.

Now it was only Allegretto, Beat, Falsetto, and Jazz left outside Prince Crescendo's room.

"I guess we better head for our rooms too," Allegretto exclaimed. Before he and beat headed for their room, he turned to Jazz and Falsetto for a moment. "What are you two going to do?"

"I plan to patrol around the castle," Jazz stated, "I'll probably get some rest later." Falsetto turned to Jazz with a slight glimmer in her eyes.

"I'll come with you, Jazz. I don't particularly need to turn in right now."

"All right, but don't push yourself too hard. We've got our hands full enough with one of us passed out," Jazz advised. Falsetto gave a small nod and smiled a bit at Jazz's concern for her.

"Okay then, we'll head on to bed. Make sure you two get enough rest for tomorrow." Allegretto and Beat waved and walked down the same hall that the others before them had previously walked through. Jazz and Falsetto headed in the opposite direction to patrol around the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

Inside Prince Crescendo's room, the doctor had finally finished the examination as he stood up to leave.

"How's Mr. Chopin's condition?" Prince Crescendo asked coming up to the doctor from staring out of the window.

"Hmm," the doctor paused to give some thought, "well there doesn't seem to be any physical injuries done to his body. His pulse and breathing are returning to normal soon. He might have been feeling exhausted from something and collapsed when his body couldn't take it. After some peaceful resting he should be fine."

"Alright, thank you for your hard work here." The doctor bowed his head and quietly left the room. Prince Crescendo finally gave out a sigh of relief and planted himself in the opposite seat across from the resting Frederic. "You worried me, my friend. But I'm glad you'll be alright now," the prince smiled. Slowly he closed his own eyes in the next moment he was asleep.

After quite some time had passed with the sun already set in the horizon and the moon and stars beckoning the night to start, Frederic had opened his eyes. He glanced around himself before he could recognize that he was no longer outside in Celestial Forest, but inside a room. Frederic slowly sat upright and as a few seconds passed by he recognized the room. When he turned his gaze to the side, his thoughts were confirmed. Prince Crescendo was seated in the cushioned chair quietly sleeping.

_But why am I in Prince Crescendo's room? _Frederic wondered. He tried to remember what had happened, though nothing would pop up as an answer. Looking outside the window, Frederic saw that the night had come, but having just awoken from a slumber he no longer felt tired. Silently he slid his body off his seat to stand up, and then left the room with the quietest sound in order to not wake up the prince. Frederic, now standing outside Prince Crescendo's room, wondered whether or not to look for the others. But something inside him urged his body to carry himself outside. Half-consciously, his legs started to move in the direction of the castle entrance. As soon as he started moving, Frederic's entire body started to glow a faint blue color, that even though he clearly was walking in front of all the guards in the hall, not one of them spoke to or even noticed him. It was as if Frederic had turned invisible to their eyes.

...

Halfway on the other side of the castle, Jazz and Falsetto were still patrolling around. Jazz seemed to have something on his mind as they were patrolling around, but since neither of them spoke a word Falsetto wasn't sure whether or not to say something to him.

_I wonder if he's thinking about Claves, _Falsetto thought to herself, _he still seems like he has feelings for her. I wonder if there's anything I can do. _As Falsetto was thinking, Jazz finally spoke up.

"Say Falsetto…."

"Yeah Jazz? What's up?" Falsetto stopped thinking and turned her attention to her leader.

"What did you think of Claves before we started our mission back at the hideout?" Jazz stopped and turned to look at Falsetto with a soft look in his eyes. Falsetto froze in her place and thought for a moment.

"Well…she was kind of a slow one. She always needed things repeated. Sometimes she would mess up on her own tasks. Even when she…." Falsetto suddenly stopped herself and changed her words. "But…she was probably good deep down. She cared for others when she was with them, and she always had a soft smile on her face." Falsetto stopped again, finished with talking about Claves. It seemed to tug on her heart a little and leave a sad feeling inside.

"I see…" Jazz whispered as he started walking down the halls again. Falsetto hurried to catch up with him.

"What about you Jazz?" Falsetto suddenly asked. "What did you think of Claves back then?" Falsetto was curious to know, but she didn't want to pry into Jazz too much about it. The topic might hurt him or cause him some type of deep pain.

"About Claves…" Jazz was about to talk when suddenly he fell quiet. Falsetto looked at him with a confused expression on her face, but before she could ask what was wrong he motioned her to keep quiet. He listened carefully around him. Falsetto did the same and after a few moments of silence they could hear a slight hint of the sound of footsteps. Jazz quietly walked down to the next corner of the hall where the hall meets the main entrance hall. When Falsetto followed behind him and peered around the corner, she noticed there was someone standing there. It was Frederic.

"Frederic? What's he doing standing over there? I thought he was back in Prince Crescendo's room resting," Falsetto whispered. Jazz, too, wondered why Frederic was up at this time of night. Before they could move forward towards him, a voice spoke from behind.

"What are you two doing peeking around a corner?" They quickly whipped around to see Viola standing in the dim light behind them with a curious stare.

"Quiet," Jazz whispered and Viola immediately cut off her voice as she quietly walked up to them. Jazz turned back around to his front in time to see Frederic's back disappear outside Baroque Castle's main door. "He's gone…"

"Who is? What's going on?" Viola asked. Falsetto turned to her to explain.

"We were patrolling around the castle when we heard footsteps in front of us around the corner. When we peered around it, we saw Frederic standing in the main hall alone. We were about to go up to him to see what he was doing being up when you showed up."

"Oh, sorry. It took a long while for me to convince Salsa to sleep in a different room than me that I didn't feel like sleeping anymore. So I decided to take a walk around the place and I then I saw the two of you. But what's Frederic doing up at this hour. Shouldn't he of all people be resting in order to recover?"

"That's what we were wondering," Falsetto shrugged. Jazz straightened up and then suddenly spoke.

"Come on, we're following him. It's dangerous to be wandering outside at night like this, and we aren't sure yet if he had fully recovered."

"Right," Falsetto agreed.

"Hey, I'll come too. You'll need a healer and an extra fighter if you end up running into any monsters," Viola suggested. Jazz nodded at her.

"Thanks, we can use the extra help."

"No problem," Viola smiled.

"Come on, we'll need to hurry if we want to catch up to him," Falsetto stated as the three of them started to move out. They quickly ran outside to catch up to Frederic. When they got to Baroque city, Falsetto spotted him up ahead.

"There he is. He seems to be headed for Celestial forest," Falsetto pointed. When Jazz and Viola followed her finger to where she was pointing, they noticed something they didn't see before.

"Is it just me, or is Frederic glowing?" Viola exclaimed. Jazz and Falsetto looked closer at Frederic, and they too could see that he was glowing.

"It's sort of faint, but I can see a blue light glowing around him," Falsetto noticed.

"That's weird," Jazz muttered. Frederic started moving again, so the group continued to follow.

...

In Prince Crescendo's room, the prince had finally opened his eyes from his slumber realizing he had been sleeping. And the first thing he saw when his eyes were open was the vacant seat across from him.

"Mr. Chopin! He's not here!" The Prince stood up abruptly and looked around the room. Before he made his way out, there was a knock on his door. When Prince Crescendo opened it, he saw Allegretto, Polka, and Beat all standing in front of him. "What's going on?" he asked everyone.

"Jazz, Falsetto, and Viola are no where to be seen," Polka told him, "They aren't in their rooms."

"Jazz and Falsetto were patrolling the castle, but they should have been back by now. It's nearly morning," Allegretto exclaimed. "Salsa was going to Viola's room for something, but when she entered no one was there. She and her sister March are searching around the castle for them right now."

"We were about to go look for them too, but we wondered if we could check up on Frederic," Beat spoke. Prince Crescendo's expression started to change into a dark one at the mention of their friend's name.

"I'm afraid Mr. Chopin has gone missing as well. I must have fallen asleep and when I woke up again, he was gone."

"What? Frederic's not here either? Man, this is all starting to get fishy," Allegretto shook his head.

"Um!" a voice interrupted them. They all turned to see the guard that is posted by Prince Crescendo's room. "If I may speak, I was on duty the whole time, but I never saw anyone leave Prince Crescendo's room until now. If they did, I would've seen them."

"What? But how can that be?" Prince Crescendo wondered. "We must look for all of them immediately!"


	3. Chapter 3

In the next moment, Salsa and March had returned from their search.

"We can't find Jazz, Falsetto, or that old lady anywhere. And we're pretty sure we searched the whole castle!" Salsa sighed.

"We asked some of the guards around here, but no one knew if they saw them. But there was one particular guard that recalled seeing a group of people heading outside the castle," March informed them.

"Outside? Hmm, whether it's them or not, that's our only lead so far. Who knows, perhaps Frederic is with them as well," Allegretto shrugged.

"Huh? Now Frederic has gone missing? Give me a break, how many people are going missing here," Salsa whined.

"Let's hurry outside and search for them. If they're heading for Celestial Forest, it'll be dangerous for them to be around monsters." The Prince led the way as the remaining group in the castle followed him out. They quickly made their way down to Baroque city and ran through the town. The members that they were searching for were not there either, so they continued onward to Celestial Forest. But when Salsa was just about to cross the line between Baroque and Celestial forest, she bumped into something and fell backwards.

"Ow! Hey, watch where you're going!" Salsa yelled. But when she regained her vision, there was no body in front of her. "Huh? What the-"

"Salsa! Are you okay?" Polka exclaimed. Salsa merely stood up and started walking forward slowly. Again, she bumped in to something, but there was nothing there. So she then tried reaching out her hand, and in a moment her hand touched something flat like a wall. In fact, it actually felt like a wall.

"There seems to be some type of wall here," Salsa pointed out.

"A wall? What are you talking about," Beat laughed as he started moving forward to pass her, "there's no wall here-" But sure enough Beat too ran into something, even though there was nothing. After shaking his head a couple times, he started throwing a fist in front of himself and felt something stop it. "H-Hey, Salsa's right, there is a wall here." Prince Crescendo immediately came forward.

"But that's impossible!" He reached out his gloved hand and felt the invisible wall they were talking about. "There has never been a wall here ever before in my life."

"I wonder how we'll get through," March sighed, "the others must be on the other side of this wall."

"Let's try to break it," Allegretto suggested, "Everyone stay back." As everyone backed away from the invisible wall, Allegretto brought out his sword and started hacking away at it.

"Haaaa, Sun Slash!" Suddenly there was a bright flash and Allegretto was flung backwards into a pile of snow.

"Allegretto!" Polka immediately ran to him and used a healing magic.

"Are you alright?" Prince Crescendo asked lending a hand.

"Yeah, but it looks like this wall isn't going to break anytime soon with our attacks."

"Then, what are we going to do?" Polka wondered.

...

"Say, shouldn't we just call to him by now? Why do we have to do all this sneaking around anyway?" Viola asked as she, Falsetto, and Jazz slowly followed the glowing Frederic now walking through Celestial Forest.

"There's something odd about him. If we make any noise, he'll catch us and then we might lose him," Jazz stated.

"I'm surprised he keeps going like this. Isn't he still supposed to be recovering?" Falsetto wondered. Suddenly Frederic had stopped in front of them. The group halted in response and waited behind one of the frosted trees in hiding to see what would happen. There was a soft noise approaching them, gradually increasing in volume. The noise sounded similar to hoofs pounding on the ground. four legged white horse with three horns on its head and a pair of giant blue wings on its back appeared out of nowhere. Its eyes glowed like the flash of lightening. Visible frost swirled and wrapped around each of its hoof. It could have been a combination of a Pegasus and a unicorn. However this beast was something never before seen, and it didn't look friendly at all.

The blue light that surrounded Frederic immediately disappeared from his body and was lifted up to the beast and absorbed into its horns. In response, Frederic fell to the ground as the beast lifted its front hooves in the air.

"He's in trouble! Come on, we've got to fight that monster," Jazz yelled as he brought up his sword and started charging at the beast. Falsetto and Viola followed suit. The beast noticed their presence and took a step back away from Frederic's fallen body.

"Viola, get Frederic away to a safer place while Falsetto and I distract this monster," Jazz ordered.

"Right!" Viola hurried to pick up Frederic and move him off to the side hidden safely in the trees. Falsetto started throwing punches at the beast horse, but it was swift to dodge them with its hoofs and whip around behind her. With a loud cry it lifted its hoofs up in the air and brought them down on Falsetto in a mad rush. Falsetto quickly guarded, but the impact was strong enough to blow her back and knock her down on the ground.

"Falsetto!" Jazz gasped. Falsetto hurried to stand up.

"I'm alright," she called. Jazz nodded and started to charge at the beast.

"Burn away to nothing! Heat Blade!" Jazz tossed off one of his best attacks at the beast. It gave out a small shriek, but that nearly wasn't enough to bring it down unlike regular monsters.

"Rrrgh, take that, and that, and that!" Viola shot arrows one after another from her bow.

"This one's not going down easily!" Jazz muttered. He gathered everyone to throw out a combined chain of attacks.

"Phoenix Rising!"

"Sacred Strike!"

"Whirlwind!"

It dealt some pretty heavy damage, but the beast was still standing while the group was panting heavily.

"How long is it going to take to put this one down?" Viola groaned. But when she let her guard down for one minute, the beast lifted its hoofs for another strike.

"Viola, look out!" Jazz cried as he ran towards Viola. The beast's attack impacted down on both of them as they were thrown back against the trees and knocked unconscious.

"Viola! Jazz!" Falsetto cried. She clenched her fists tight and yelled, "You're going to pay for that!" She furiously punched and kicked at the beast over and over. But one member's attacks weren't enough to even scratch it, and in seconds the beast horse pounded and threw Falsetto back against another tree next to the unconscious Viola and Jazz.

...

"Let us through!" Salsa yelled as she repeatedly pounded on the invisible wall that prevented them from entering Celestial Forest.

"Beating it like that isn't going to help," Beat sighed.

"But we've got to do something! Who knows what could be happening to Frederic and the others while we're just sitting here like ducks!"

"I see you're point Salsa," Allegretto exclaimed, "but so far we haven't been able to figure out a way to get through this invisible wall."

"Yes...it's as if someone or something doesn't want us to enter the forest," Prince Crescendo observed. They kept thinking and thinking until suddenly March had an idea.

"Wait, what if we find a weak spot?" March brought up.

"A weak spot?" Polka asked.

"Yes, if this wall was placed here by magic, then maybe there's a certain section of the wall where the magic is weak and able to be broken."

"Great idea March! Come on everyone, lets go find that weak spot," Allegretto exclaimed.

"But wait a minute, how are we supposed to find the weak spot if the wall is invisible?" Beat asked.

"Gosh Beat, do you ever use that brain of yours?" Salsa spoke up.

"Well it's true! How do you expect to find something that's invisible?"

"Um...well..." Salsa thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with an answer herself. Suddenly Polka moved closer to the wall.

"What is it Polka?" Allegretto asked.

"I can sense it. The wall's magic, I can feel it in my heart."

"Huh? Really? I don't sense anything," Beat exclaimed.

"That's because you're not using your brains," Salsa commented.

"What's that supposed to mean? And how could it be related to the brain, Polka said she felt it in her heart," Beat countered.

"She's special," Salsa shot back. After a moment Polka spoke again.

"Here it is. The amount of magic within this part of the wall is significantly weaker. Try attacking this part Allegretto." Allegretto nodded and stepped forward.

"Alright here goes! Stand back everyone, Sun Slash!" Allegretto charged his sword and this time his attack went through. Cracks of light appeared on the wall, and the entire thing shattered like glass.

"Alright! It's gone, now we can catch up to the others!" Salsa jumped for joy.

"We better hurry," Crescendo exclaimed. "I hope we're not too late."


	4. Chapter 4

Meanwhile, Jazz, Falsetto, and Viola were still unconscious in battle. The monster was about to finish the trio off when a glimmer of hope shined through at the beast before the finale.

"He who lives among mists and tempests, and travel by riding the wind, answer my call! Orzel Bialy!" The beast was surrounded and engulfed by a pillar of light as beams rained down upon it. A piercing cry erupted from its voice and it collapsed to nothing but dust. When it had disappeared and was forever silent, a man stepped out from behind the trees and approached the unconscious trio. With a wave of his baton, he whispered. "Tri-Clementia." Warm light surrounded the three unconscious, and then they were able to open their eyes. When they looked up, they could see Frederic smiling down at them.

"Frederic?" Jazz exclaimed as Frederic helped them up back onto their feet. "You're awake."

"Yes. I was just awoken when I heard the sound of a cry for help. When I came to, you all were about to be finished off by a savage beast, but I managed to finish it off first," he explained.

"What happened to you? You were supposed to be resting after collapsing in the forest after our training, but the three of us found you wandering outside. And you were glowing!"

"Glowing?" Frederic questioned.

"Yeah, there was a faint blue light surrounding your body. And then when you walked all the way to celestial forest, a beast we've never seen before came out in front of you. And then you collapsed again!" Falsetto told him.

"I…did happen to feel something strange earlier, but before I could figure out anything I must have fallen unconscious. I see…I apologize for causing all of you this much trouble."

"Everything's all right now," Viola assured him, "We're just glad you're okay. And besides, you did save us all back there when we had fallen unconscious ourselves. And I for one have to apologize to you Jazz….I let my guard down and you had to jump in to help me." Viola looked at Jazz apologetically.

"Hmm? Oh, it's fine. It looks like no one got hurt in the end," Jazz waved it off.

"By the way, where are the others?" Frederic looked around to see that it was only them four in the forest. A familiar voice called to them from behind.

"Hey! There you guys are! We finally caught up to you!" A familiar red haired agogo guardian yelled waving at them. Behind her, Prince Crescendo, Allegretto, Polka, Beat, and March came running up from behind.

"Is everyone all right?" Prince Crescendo asked concerned.

"We're all alright, thank you," Falsetto smiled.

"Hey Frederic, you're up! Are you feeling okay now? Should you be up?" Beat asked Frederic.

"Yes, I'm alright, thank you for your concern Beat. And I apologize to everyone for all of the trouble I've caused," Frederic bowed his head in an apology.

"Phew, we're all just glad you're all right now Frederic," Polka sighed.

"Yeah, and back to normal too. It was pretty weird seeing Frederic glowing and walking as if he was a ghost," Viola laughed.

"Huh? Frederic turned into ghost? Seriously?" Salsa exclaimed. Viola suddenly had a look in her eyes.

"Oh yeah. I think he was planning on turning you into a ghost to, Salsa," Viola whispered jokingly.

"No way!" Salsa jumped, "Frederic would never do something like that!" Viola started laughing as Salsa stomped in fury.

"I'm glad that we found out that everyone's okay now, but unfortunately it's already morning," Allegretto announced as he pointed to the rising sun behind the morning clouds. Everyone in the group immediately turned to look at Jazz.

Surprised, he said, "What?

"You're not still thinking that since we're all here we might as well start our training again, are you Jazz?" Viola asked staring at him hard. "Not after all we've been through since last night."

"Well…" Jazz began.

"Yeah, and what if Frederic ends up passing out again? Or worse, what if we all end up passing out, and then who's going to call for help?" Beat exclaimed.

"Um, Beat, I'm not exactly quite sure that the reason for my collapse was from exhaustion-" Frederic tried to explain.

"Yeah, and then we'll be eaten by monsters!" Salsa cried.

"Oh you two, I'm sure it won't be that bad," Polka tried to calm them down. Viola suddenly remembered something.

"And hey! What if we run into something like that beast again? I sure don't want to end up fighting it again," Viola sighed

"Hmm? What sort of beast?" Prince Crescendo asked.

"It seemed to be a type of giant horse, like a unicorn or a Pegasus. Only combined," Falsetto described.

"A unicorn or a Pegasus? I don't recall knowing any monster like that in Celestial Forest," Prince Crescendo thought out loud.

"We didn't either, but it seemed especially interested in Frederic. It absorbed the blue light that had been surrounding him on the way here with its horns."

"So you mean to say that I had been possessed?" Frederic asked. "But I wonder how that could have happened…"

"Ahem!" The whole group suddenly stopped talking and realized who they had been ignoring the whole time. Jazz shook his head with an irritated look and continued, "If you have this much energy to talk, you all should be well enough to tackle Celestial forest and Aria Temple again." Everyone all let out an explosion of whines, complaints, irritated and worried expressions. After a few seconds Jazz smiled at them. "Gotcha," he said and then they all looked confused. "I think everyone has had enough excitement for the day. Let's forget about today's training and all head back to Baroque to relax." With hearing the real truth in Jazz's words, the group rejoiced so noisily that some of the monsters in the forest noticed their presence, causing the group to jump and hurriedly sprint away from the forest.

As the group was madly sprinting for the safe haven of Baroque, Frederic stopped for a short moment. This time, he slowly looked back and whispered to himself, "I wonder if I felt the sadness of that beast's soul earlier."

"Frederic, what are you doing? Everyone's hurrying up ahead," Beat called out to their friend.

"Oh, sorry," Frederic smiled as he hurried on to catch up with him. In his footsteps, a single blue feather laid softly on the snow, shined down upon by the morning sun.

-Fin-


End file.
